Advent 3

For those unfamiliar with Liturgical seasons like Advent, its most significant impact may be a calendar of study of appropriate scheduled scriptures. During Advent we celebrate the incarnation of Jesus, the Messiah who would have been well familiar with seasons celebrated in scripture and we celebrate the continuity of the Light of Christmas by lighting a new candle of an Advent wreath each week and the new light is added to others lit previously.

If you missed the first two candles of our 2016 Advent season, just follow our scriptural journey through Isaiah and the Gospels by beginning on the links below. Today we add the Prophecy of Daniel to the warnings of John the Baptist.

and new things I now declare – 1

and new things I now declare – 2

Advent 3 – Prepare the way of the Lord

Isaiah 46:

¹² “Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,
    you who are far from righteousness:
¹³ I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off,
    and my salvation will not delay;
I will put salvation in Zion,
    for Israel my glory.”

Who will save you? What man can save us?

Is it not the Lord who saves and is is not the Lord whose power reaches out into time and touches the hearts of man?

Only the Lord can overrule the defiant hearts of a people who refuse glory to the King of all creation.

A Voice in the Wilderness Cries Out

In a first century preaching John, known as the Baptizer, warns a complacent chosen people subjugated under Herod and Rome of the coming of the Lord: the Messiah, Jesus!

Using the voice of the LORD of the 5th century B.C. through the Prophet Daniel, John preaches:

Daniel 4:

¹³ “I saw in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, and behold, a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven. ¹⁴ He proclaimed aloud and said thus:

‘Chop down the tree and lop off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it and the birds from its branches. ¹⁵ But leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, amid the tender grass of the field. Let him be wet with the dew of heaven.

Let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth. ¹⁶ Let his mind be changed from a man’s, and let a beast’s mind be given to him; and let seven periods of time pass over him. ¹⁷ The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will and sets over it the lowliest of men.’

Repentance becomes the Advent of Redemption

From Daniel’s interpretation of the symbolic dream of Nebuchadnezzar we learn of the most powerful man on earth coming into a time of humiliation and of an earthly king’s recognition of the Most High. Like many of us, Nebuchadnezzar had times when he demanded the attention of his followers – bow down to the idol of gold – then humble men came before him with exceeding power of an almighty God.

John the Baptist preached of the power of the LORD over the might of leaders of nations – authority above the corrupt and misleading rulers of religion. Repent! Purify your bodies of sin and prepare the way for the Redeemer who will certainly come.

Behold, I send my messenger before your face

Mark 1:

As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,
“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,

the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’”

John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Ἰωάννης

John’s name means, “Jehovah is a gracious giver” and John the Baptist was son of Zacharias, a priest of the Temple and born to Elisabeth in their old age. John is the forerunner of Christ and preached the gospel of the coming of the good news of redemption for the souls of men.

Repent! and purify your hearts; prepare for the Lord by changing your ways. Herod Antipas ordered the Temple guard to cast John into prison and afterwards beheaded him.

We prepare the way of the Lord looking upon the innocence of a babe, an innocence maintained through every action and each word from the Messiah Jesus until upon the cross he proclaimed of the work of redemption: “It is finished.”

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Advent 3: and new things I now declare

To be continued…